Board Candidates

Adem was born in Summit, New Jersey and graduated from Miami University (OH) with a B.A. in Architecture and received a Master’s in Urban/City Planning from Georgia Tech.  He spent 9 years in Atlanta as a designer and campus planner in the private sector and worked on transformational projects at numerous colleges and universities.

Adem has been at Duke University since 2007 in the Facilities Management Department and was promoted to Director of Planning & Design in October of 2021. His department’s primary responsibilities include campus master planning, space programming and planning, capital project design oversight and facility renewal planning.

Adem and his wife, Asiya, live in Durham, NC and have a daughter that is a rising senior at UNC-Chapel Hill and a son that is a rising sophomore at Duke.

Image

I have been a member  of DFC approaching 40 years. I and my wife and four children have enjoyed the athletic and social aspects of the club, and benefited from its improvements. I am a Duke alumnus and my wife an internist at Duke. I worked in corporate finance at IBM for 38 years. I have served on the DFC board twice before, and have an on-going interest in developing the activities at the Club. I actively play tennis twice weekly, pickleball perhaps three times weekly, and use the exercise room regularly. I am pleased with the improvements in the Club amenities, and would continue to focus on the availability of social programs where members can relax and socialize together.

Image

A DFC member since 2009, Erdağ Göknar is Associate Professor of Turkish & Middle East Studies at Duke University. He is a scholar of literary and cultural studies and an award-winning translator whose research analyzes cultural politics in modern Turkey with a focus on late Ottoman legacies in Turkish fiction, historiography, and popular culture. His current research examines intersections of law and literature during the Allied occupation of Istanbul, 1918-23. His articles have appeared in South Atlantic Quarterly, the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, Literature and Theology, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Image

Samira Wellemeyer is the Director of the Office of Duke-NUS Affairs at Duke University School of Medicine. The office manages and facilitates research, clinical and educational collaborations between Duke and Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. In addition to supporting inter-institutional initiatives, she works with colleagues across Duke to promote the Duke/Duke-NUS partnership and identify new opportunities. Her favorite parts of the job are the exposure to people and cultures different from her own and sharing her hometown, Durham, with visitors. Previously, Samira worked at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, planning and leading study abroad trips for MBA students and providing visa support to incoming international experience.

Samira has always been interested in learning about other cultures and languages, having lived abroad in England, Germany, and Moldova, where she served as a Peace Corps Health Education Volunteer. She speaks fluent Romanian and some German. Samira holds an MA in International Education from The George Washington University and a BA in International Studies and German from Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, MI. 

Fun fact: Samira, her husband Greg, and their kids Desmond and Winnie were all born at Durham Regional Hospital. They are proud to be from Durham and lucky to have many family members on both sides who live locally. They can usually be found hiking, listening to live music and taking road trips to visit friends and explore new places.

Image

Billy Zarzour currently serves as the Director of Major Gifts for the Iron Dukes with Duke Athletics.  Billy works with Duke alumni, parents, and friends to raise gifts of $100k+ to Duke Athletics.  Since joining the Iron Dukes, Billy has been a part of the Building Champions Campaign which raised over $341 million for Duke  Athletics, and currently works on the Made For This Campaign which has already raised over $605M.  He has a passion for making changes through philanthropic support.

Billy is also a native of Durham, who grew up using the Duke Faculty Club and worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor from 2007-2012.  He and his wife Sasha absolutely love the Duke Faculty Club and bringing their three children to the pool as often as possible.  

His hope for being on the board for the Duke Faculty Club would be to continue to foster the community of the DFC, and act in service to the members of the club.

Image

I am honored to run for the Board of the Duke Faculty Club after being an active member of the DFC community for the past 11 years. During that time, I have had the opportunity to experience and appreciate the full range of programs, services, and events that make the DFC such a valuable part of Duke and Durham, including sports, camps, social gatherings, recreation, and community-building opportunities.

As a long-time member, I understand both the traditions that make the DFC special and the importance of continuing to evolve to meet the needs of current and future members. I value the sense of community that the DFC fosters across faculty, staff, retirees, and alumni families, and I look forward to helping strengthen that community as a member of the Board over the next two years.

If elected to the Board, I would bring a collaborative approach and a strong commitment to supporting the DFC’s mission and long-term success. I would be grateful for the opportunity to serve and help ensure that the DFC continues to thrive for years to come.

Image

We have been members of DFC for almost 40 years. I’ve served several times on the Board in various capacities. I was directly involved in planning and paying for the construction of our new building which was a major undertaking. Covid provided many financial challenges to the Club which we have navigated well. With the upcoming new arrangement with Duke, it is important that the DFC actively manages that relationship at all levels, especially financially. I am interested in helping to oversee this new transitional for the Club with particular focus assuring thsta we are financially secure. In particular, I am interested in continuing to improve our facilities. While much has been done, there are additional facilities improvements would enhance the DFC experience for all of us. 

Image